


She's A Tear In My Heart

by MaryAlice26



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: (but he doesn't know it), F/M, Fluff, Greendale is it's own warning, IT'S SO FLUFFY, Jug's 15, Pining Jughead Jones, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Season/Series 01, Prudence is her own warning, because in my head he is the oldest, except Jug, they're 14, yet - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 01:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16821973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaryAlice26/pseuds/MaryAlice26
Summary: "Sometimes you gotta bleed to knowThat you’re alive and have a soulBut it takes someone to come aroundTo show you how"It's two a.m. now, and Jughead knows Archie it's not showing up for their "video game and pizza night". But then his phone rings and he's on his way to Greendale. Even though he doesn't have a license. Even though he isn't even old enough to drive. He's just helping out a friend. More of a friend of a friend actually. It's not like he spent his time thinking about Betty Cooper. No way.





	She's A Tear In My Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nurseholliday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nurseholliday/gifts).



> Soooo. I really hope you guys like this. (Also, this is for nurseholliday, Queen of all things Bughead music inspired. Love you, love your fics)

Jughead Jones sometimes wondered if he still had feelings.

He was pretty sure he wasn’t normal. He always ignored Cheryl Blossom’s jabs. She said he was “white trailer trash” and “Southside scum”, but he didn't care. And, sure, he had to put ice in the black eyes the football team gave him. But he didn’t _feel_ hurt. Or angry, or helpless. Or anything else he was supposed to feel according to that bullying flier he had seen at school.

Maybe it was because he had bigger things to deal with. But even when his father was home and in a mood, Jughead still couldn’t feel the fear he knew he should.

He had thought he was lying to himself, for some dumb sense of pride or… But, no. He was just… Numb. Yes, that was the word. It was kind of a nice thing when your father is a drunk and your best (only) friend is slowly forgetting that you exist.

(That’s to say, FP should have been in the trailer, asleep, because he had to go to work early in the morning. And Jughead _shouldn’t_ have been home. Because he and Archie were set for a sleepover at the redhead’s house, with lots of pizza and video games.)

It was 2:00 a.m. now, and he had just started watching Pulp Fiction. Honey Bunny and Pumpkin had already decided to rob the diner, but Jules hadn’t said he wanted to go to Amsterdam. And, yes, maybe he danced to Bustin’ Surfboards. And to Jungle Boogie. But who doesn't?

(FP was probably passed out in the White Wyrm. He didn’t have a real job and nothing really mattered more than the next bottle - his son could go fuck himself. And Jughead was alone watching Tarantino movies because when he knocked at the Andrew’s a very confused Fred said he thought Archie had gone to _Jughead’s._ )

Just when Jules says “Tony Rocky Horror” got his ass fucked up because he gave Mia Wallace’s feet a massage, his phone ringed. And, dammit Archie! Either call before you ditch someone or not at all. A drunk dial in the middle of Jughead’s pity party was a whole new level of douchery.

But it wasn’t Archie’s name on his phone. Why the fuck Betty Cooper was calling him? In the middle of the night nonetheless.

“Juggie!”

Her voice was way too excited, way too slurred, and _Juggie_?

He and Betty Cooper had been “friends” for most their childhoods and all of their pre-teen years. But, truly, they were just acquaintances with a best friend in common. To Archie, Betty was the girl next door, never failing to bring him cookies and other homemade baked goods. Jughead lived in the south, but their fathers were best friends. They knew each other since ever, and called themselves “blood brothers”. Both Jughead and Betty were always with Archie, and that meant they were always around each other. But not that they were close. And then Betty had gone and started crushing on Archie so hard everyone would notice, but the redhead. Jughead started to feel like a third wheel. What with the way the blond was always _looking_ at Archie, hanging onto his every word. Jughead felt he should keep his distance, so that’s what he did. He still hanged around Archie, but only when he knew Betty wouldn’t be there.

But even when they did talk, Betty had never called him Juggie. Jug, sure, just like he called her Betts. But never _Juggie_.

And he knew all the signs, he could tell, even on the telephone. Betty Cooper was drunk. Very drunk.

“Betty, where are you?” 

A pause and then a giggle.

“Weeel… Polly invited me to a Party! I got so happy but then she just wanted me to go so mom wouldn’t know she was at a party. She wanted me to cover for her because _Jason_ was driving us and mom doesn’t trust any of her friends anymore. She thinks we’re at Kev’s. I said I wouldn't do it, but Polly said _Archie_ would go too.”

She emphasized the names of the two boys that stole the Cooper girls’ hearts. Jason’s with a certain distaste, almost like Alice Cooper. Archie’s with impossible adoration.

“And guess what, Juggie! Archie _is_ here!” Of course he was, who needs best friends and video games? “But then everyone kind of ditched me half an hour after we arrived and I ended up alone… Until I started talking with this boy Harvey and he introduced me to his girlfriend Sabrina and her friends. Susie and Roz are so cool! Prudence is a little bit weird but she’s nice. In a strange way.”

Jughead had no idea about who were these people. He had never heard of a Sabrina who dated a Harvey or was friends with a Roz and a Susie. He was pretty sure he had never heard of a Prudence with less than fifty years. But he was friends with a Betty and his name was Forsythe, and there was something to be said about throwing rocks when you live in glass houses.

"Ah… Okay.” He said, a little bit unsure about how safe the blond was. “But why did you call me?”

“Oh! I was just getting to this part.” She giggled again. “They had to go, and Sabrina offered me a ride home but she lives in Greendale. She was so worried Juh! I had to say a friend would come and get me, and she said they would stay until he came. And you’re my friend Juggie!”

Jughead knew where this was going, but he asked anyway.

“Betty, isn’t your house on the way to the highway that leads to Greendale?”

She giggled once more. Apparently, a drunk Betty was a giggling Betty.

“No, silly, I _am_ in Greendale. That’s why I need you to come and get me.”

Jughead couldn’t go to Greendale. He was fifteen! He didn’t have a driver’s license, but… Betty was alone in Greendale with strangers. He knew Archie forgot everything and everyone when he found a skirt to chase. He wouldn’t catch an Uber with Betty, and she refused to go into one alone, and that’s assuming she has the money for it. Jughead sure didn’t. Polly only had eyes for Jason these days, and they were probably already on Thorn Hill having sex.

He sighed.

“Betty, can you text me your location?” His answer was a long silence. “Betty, did you shake your head?”

She did that, sometimes. While on the phone, she pointed or shook her head. She was always adorably awkward when she realized what she had done but this time, she giggled yet again.

“Oh, Juggie! Yes, I can! Just like that girl with the tattoo… Or is it a girl in a tattoo?”

“Oookay… Just send it and stay where you are. Oh, and please Betty, no more drinks!”

“Yes, sir!”

These two words were the beginning of the night Jughead would forever remember as his personal hell.

His phone lighted up with a notification and Jughead grabbed the car keys, for once glad that his father hadn’t left him with the bike and for the driving “classes” with Fred and Archie.

Jughead loved the bike. He learned how to ride it as soon as he was tall enough because FP was irresponsible enough to teach him. But, in a situation like that, he needed the car.

He still remembered learning how to drive it. His dad’s classes seemed so long ago he could barely recall his father proud smile the first time he rode around the trailer park alone. But learning how to drive with Archie had been last summer. He could still hear Fred warning him about looking into the rear view mirror and Archie complaining that he learned faster because he already knew how to ride a bike.

When Jughead reached the highway, he remembered that Toni’s grandfather used to say no one would want to be in Greendale after midnight. But he shook the strange feeling away. He turned on the road with the “Let Greendale Cast A Spell On You” sign and…

_…Betty was wearing a pink dress, decorated with lace, but modest. An Alice Cooper approved dress, of course. He was wearing dress pants and a dress shirt. His suspenders in the right place, for once._

_They were in his trailer, and Betty was sitting next to him. But she seemed so far away… she wasn’t even looking at him._

_“We…” She said with a chuckle. “It’s nice to hear that again”_

_“Look, I’ll be apologizing for it for the rest of my life. But I’m sorry, I am. For feeling like I needed to shield you from what I was going through with the serpents or.. My darkness” I was his turn to chuckle and look away._

_“I can handle it.”_

_He looked at her again, only to see her green eyes looking at him too, with hope, and… something more._

_“_ _I know. I know you can.”_

_They looked away from each other and sat there in a heavy silence._

_“I should probably… start heading home.”_

_He didn’t dare look at her, but he said what he was thinking._

_“Or you could stay.” And then, he couldn’t handle it anymore. His hand fell where her skirt covered the couch, next to her tight, but not touching it. Yet. “Stay”_

_It sounded like a plea because that’s exactly what it was._

_She leaned to kiss him, but soon she was in his lap. His hand found the zipper on her dress and he slid it down like the fact that Betty was still wearing clothes was offensive._

_It was._

He blinked a few times and realized he couldn't see Greendale’s sign, but when he looked at the rear view mirror, there it was. He was obviously in dire need of sleep if he was already hallucinating while driving. Maybe he should also stop having so much coffee. And he would have to.. well, _relax_ as soon as he got home. It had been a while if visions featuring his best friend’s future girlfriend where an indicator.

When he arrived at the address Betty had sent him, she was sitting at the front porch, a girl with platinum blond hair by her side. When Betty looked up, all he could think about were her green green eyes, and the last time he had seen them, looking at him like…

… No, bad Jughead. He had to forget that coffee and Uma Thurman induced hallucination. That was Betty Cooper! He would be the best man at her wedding! Because, of course one of this days Archie would pull his head out of his ass and see the wonderful girl that was waiting for him. And Jughead? Jughead would be weird “uncle” who is invited to all family holidays because he has no one else to spend them with.

Best case scenario, if everything went according to his plan, he would be a published author who lived in New York and always had cool gifts to the kids.

“Betty, let’s go. I’ll take you to Kevin’s.”

She ran to him and threw herself in a hug Jughead was definitely not expecting.

“Juggie! You came for me!”

“Of course I came Betty! Your mother was going to kill you if she went to Kevin’s in the morning and didn’t find you. And I need to borrow someone’s homework. My only other friend is Archie, and we both know that’s a trainwreck no one wants to watch.”

He nodded to the other blond girl who smiled at him like she knew something, and then went back to the house. Probably to find her friends. He had thought that if he started to walk, Betty would let him go, but she only snuggled closer.

“You’re so warm!” She explained, or, at least, he was pretty sure it was an explanation.

“Betty, we need to get in the car so we can go home. Remember?”

She let a soft moan escape her lips in protest when he tried to gently push her away so he could open her door. He knew right then and there he wasn’t going to hell, because he was already paying for all his sins.

Betty Cooper was beautiful. Of course, he knew that. But up until that phone call, it had been an abstract concept. Like, he knew he would be lighter in the moon, but he didn’t think much about that, he wasn’t going to the moon. Just the same, Betty Cooper was beautiful, but so what?

But now he was trying to put her seatbelt on without looking at her legs, and why would she wear a skirt so short?

_To impress Archie, your best friend._

He finally managed to fasten her seatbelt and went to the driver’s seat. He wanted to leave Greendale as fast as he could.

“Juggie, I don’t wanna go hoooome.”

Her words were still slurred, but she sounded more sleepy than drunk.

“It’s okay Betts. I’m not taking you to your house.”

She started to giggle again, but this time, more quietly. He felt her looking at him when she said:

“So you’re taking me to _your_ house?”

He almost crashed the car. He took a minute to regain his breath.

“No, I’m taking you to Kevin’s. As I told you before, remember? I just need you to call him and…”

He looked at her and saw that she was already asleep. Her head in the window with her hand supporting it.

He sighed and kept driving. It was okay, he would just avoid the holes so she would sleep fine. Even so, the car still shook and her head hit the window. Her hand weakened the impact, but she still frowned and groaned. The windows were closed since it was quite cold outside, so he was trapped with her perfume.

“Shit!”

He couldn’t help but curse at that particularly bad part of the road. They don’t pay taxes so the government can fix stuff like this?

A deer decided that it was the perfect time to cross the road and Jughead stopped the car. It didn’t look like it was in a rush and he had to suppress another curse.

He risked a glance to where Betty was still sleeping somewhat peacefully and his frown turned into a smile. When he looked back at the road the deer was looking at the car, it’s eyes shining because of the headlights. It was almost… hypnotizing and…

_The race was almost starting and he had a plan. A solid plan. Well, not really, but things had turned out alright when he had much less in his favor, so it was worth a try._

_He was checking the car one last time, waiting for Archie. But he knew Veronica would take her time. Like aways. Jughead knew he was just bitter because there wouldn’t be any good luck kisses for him._

_He slammed the hood and there she was. In her iconic ponytail but with a red bandana wrapped around her head that made her look like one of those pin-ups. She was trying to kill him. It was the only explanation._

_“Before you get in the car… I need you to know. I never stopped loving you, Jughead. I’m not sure if I can” He knew her words where true because he felt the same way. “Also remember, don't ride the clutch, and don't let it slip between gear shifts, okay?”_

_He felt a hurricane of emotions on his chest. He wanted to scream at her. He wanted to ignore everything she had said, just out of spite. He wanted to hold her and never let her go, but at the same time, he wanted to be as far away from her as possible. And, most importantly, he wanted to kiss Betty Cooper, that wonderful girl._

_Instead, he just kind of smiled and said:_

_“You’re an enigma, Cooper”_

Jughead blinked a few times and saw that the deer was no longer blocking the road.

As soon as he got home, he decided, he was going to sleep. He wouldn’t even stop to do other things. No, it was straight to bed, if he was already having visions in witch Betty Cooper said she could never stop loving him. He was obviously past the point.

And that was when he realized. Why was he driving back to Riverdale in the middle of the night if he wasn’t even old enough yet? The answer was simple: Betty had asked nicely. He would probably do the same for his father. Hell, maybe even for Archie. But not without trying to say no first, not without a “fight”. But he didn’t even think when he said yes to Betty, he never did. Why was that?

Because he liked Betty Cooper, liked _liked_ her. He wore his apathy as an armor, but every armor had a tear. His was Betty Cooper.

He could have lived his whole life without knowing he liked Betty. He wished he had. Naming what he felt when she smiled at _Archie_ , said _Archie_ ’s name with adoration on her tone and did everything to impress _Archie_ … It just made it all worse.

Sometimes you gotta bleed to know that you’re alive and have a soul. And she was the one that made him feel that way.

He arrived at Kevin’s house without crashing the car, surprising himself. He just wanted to call her, let her know they had arrived. But he couldn’t help putting a stray lock behind her ear.

“Betty?” He finally said, withdrawing his hand. “We’re at Kev’s.”

“Uh?” She looked confused, but way too tired to ask questions.

He just grabbed his phone and called Keller. Thankfully he wasn’t at the Greendale party and quietly snuck out to pick his blond friend. But not before she threw herself into another hug. But this time under Kevins questioning stare. Jughead just shrugged.

He waited until they were both inside the house before starting the car. He just wanted to go home and forget that night.

As if a girl like Betty Cooper would even look twice at a loser like Jughead... 

  



End file.
